I am going far a field for this one! I had trouble
justifying my recent little post about William
‘Wild Will’ Fitzpatrick as it wasn’t directly related to the MC2 at
all, and was just something I wanted to cover to break me out of my writer’s
block. Today is a similar post not directly pertaining to the MC2, but I
am hoping to build this and the previously mentioned post along with other
related posts into a rather large combined entry in the MC2 Family Tree series.
Today, we will be looking at the Marvel character Mary
MacLeod.
Who is Mary MacLeod? Why am I talking about her? What
does she have to do with anything? Well, let us start at the beginning…which is
also the end. Confused? Let me explain. In 1990 the long-gestating,
gorgeously illustrated graphic novel Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth by
Charles Vess was released. In its pages Peter
and Mary
Jane take ‘a sort of second honeymoon’ to Scotland when Mary
Jane is bequeathed the estate of her relative, Mrs MacLeod.
We learn from a letter written and mailed before Mrs
MacLeod’s death that her home county of Ross-Shire (which is a real
place by the way) is being bought up by business developers with plans to
destroy the area’s natural beauty. Travelling to Scotland to untangle legal
matters, Peter and Mary Jane rent a room in the village’s local inn
for a week. The publican Alan Sinclair correctly identifies the couple
as ‘Mr and Mrs Parker’ and informs Mary Jane he has been
expecting ‘the niece of Mary MacLeod’ for some time. While the village
is not named, we can use context and geography to identify it.
The village is near Duncraig Castle
(another real place, though greatly fictionalised here) overlooking Lochalsh
or Loch Alsh (that’s
‘Lake’ Alsh for those not in the know, yet again a real place) and
thanks to the letter Mary MacLeod wrote to her niece, we even have the postcode
‘IV40’. Putting all this together, it appears the village just might be Kyle of Lochalsh
which looks out at Loch Alsh and is located a few minutes’ drive from Duncraig
Castle. An essay written by Charles Vess’ which was published alongside
the story confirms these very real locations he visited on his many travels to Scotland’s
Highlands, with an additional point of interest being that Eilean Donan Castle seems
to be the visual inspiration for Duncraig Castle, given it resembles
a castle unlike Duncraig. Further, Mr Vess begs forgiveness from the people of the
Highlands ‘for stretching and rearranging their landscape and
villages to suit the requirements of my story.’ A class act.
Let us circle back to Mary MacLeod. As mentioned
above the barkeep Alan Sinclair refers to Mary Jane Parker as Mary’s
niece, but also says ‘A fine lady was our Mary, she spoke of you manys
the time. It’s pleased I am to be meetin’ a relation of herself.’ When Mary
Jane and Peter visit the church graveyard, Mary Jane reflects ‘the
letters she wrote always made me feel so close. I almost felt as if I knew her.’
In the MacLeod Croft, while looking at Mary’s photos, Mary
Jane notes ‘look…her whole life is in these pictures and, oh Peter,
here she is at my christening.’ Together, these comments paint a picture of
a solitary older woman who cherished her niece or grand-niece as she had no family
of her own. While the honorific ‘Mrs’ may indicate MacLeod is Mary’s
married name, ‘Mrs’ is also used for older women and those who preference it.
If MacLeod were the maiden name, it could be argued that Mary Jane’s
mother Madeline was also a MacLeod before marriage which would
make Mary Jane’s family heritage almost indisputably Scottish.
As I’ve touched upon in my Osborn
Family Tree and Osborn Name
Origins there are some interesting real-world tidbits we can learn from
surnames and their origins. Watson is a common Scottish
and English with ancient Anglo-Saxon
origins. MacLeod as a surname is of Scottish
origin, being an anglicised form of the Scottish Gaelic surname MacLeòid meaning
‘son of Leòd’ and derived
from Old Norse.
Finally, we learn that Mary attended the christening
of Mary Jane, presumably an infant at the time, which further defines
the family’s religion or cultural practices as some form of Christianity,
which fits well with a Scottish background with it is the largest religious
denomination in the country.
This last point is not factual, but worth meditating on. The
story of Spirits of the Earth features three Mary’s: Mary
MacLeod who’s correspondence and passing brings Peter and Mary Jane to
Scotland where the events unfold, Dark Mairi of the Shore,
a mysterious and magical old woman who communes with the fairies and spirits,
and Mary Jane Parker who becomes heavily involved in events, even aiding
Mairi by adding her own youthful spirit and energy to bring down a
cavern at the stories climax. Notably, when glimpsed from afar, Mairi
appeared as a youthful redheaded woman with a resemblance to Mary Jane.
I wonder if Mary MacLeod had red hair too?
Despite not even appearing once, Mary MacLeod provides
us a rare glimpse into the broader history, culture, religion, and geography surrounding
Mary Jane Watson’s family. It is also nice to know that should the Parker
Family ever travel to Scotland, they have a nice little cottage with a
sublime view waiting for them. A wholehearted special thanks to both maydaymemer
and arias-98105 for their help on this one, it’s greatly appreciated.
Until I crack the Watson Family Tree and retire to the
Isles, I remain
frogoat
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